For centuries Sheffield has been noted as “the edge tool warehouse and cutlery workshop of the world.” One of Chaucer's characters in the “Canterbury Tales” is thus represented:
A Sheffield thwytel bare he in his hose.
This “thwytel,” or “whittle,” was a sort of bowie knife carried in the fourteenth century for the purposes of defence. In the Middle Ages arrow-heads were the staple manufactures of the town, hence the selection of crossed arrows as the arms of the borough. It is said that the Earl of Richmond's bowmen used Sheffield-made arrows at the battle of Bosworth. In the days of Queen Elizabeth a number of persecuted Dutch artisans sought refuge in this country, and the workers in steel taking up their abode in Sheffield materially assisted in the development of the local industry. The number of those actually engaged in the cutlery trade at the beginning of the eighteenth century was 7,000, who turned out goods to the annual value of 100,000 l.
The Works of Messrs. Rogers and Sons. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
Messrs. Joseph Rodgers and Sons (Limited), Norfolk Street, sketches of whose works we give, stand at the head of the cutlery firms of the town, being the oldest and largest, not only in Sheffield, but the world. As the star and Maltese cross forming their trade mark had been extensively pirated in America and elsewhere, the depredators were prosecuted with such vigour that the company are now pretty free from this system of commercial fraud. Their show rooms are among the leading sights of the town. The room appropriated to the display of cutlery is 45ft. long by upwards of 21st. wide. In it are to be seen the celebrated knife made for the first International Exhibition, and another containing as many blades as the date of the year. Communicating with this room is a department, 54 feet by 20 feet, wherein are shown silver and plated articles in great profusion.
Left: The Ivory Room. Right: Interior of a Grinding Wheel [Room].
The Ivory Room, sketched elsewhere, contains valuable stores of elephants tusks ready to be fashioned into handles for those elegant and useful articles in the production of which the firm is unrivalled. The company have by far the largest Indian trade, and they regularly send large quantities of their manufactures to their branch houses in London, New York, and Montreal. The other firms of eminence in the town include Messrs. Harrison Brothers and Howson, Messrs. George Wastenholm and Son, Messrs. Mappin and Webb, Messrs. Turner and Co., Messrs. William Webster and Sons, Messrs. Christopher Johnson and Co., Messrs. Francis Newton and Sons, Messrs. John Kenyon and Co., Messrs. S. Newbould and Co., Messrs. Wade, Wing: field, and Co., Messrs. Lockwood Brothers, Messrs. J. and H. Sorby, Messrs. Robert Sorby and Sons, Messrs. Ward and Payne, Messrs. Laycock Brothers, Messrs. Mappin Brothers, Messrs. Unwin and Rodgers, Messrs. Brookes and Crookes, &c. Amongst the “factors”-merchants who buy from manufacturers —may be mentioned Messrs. Hargreaves, Smith, and Co., Messrs. Wilson, Hawksworth, Ellison, and Co., Messrs. Smith and Hall, Messrs. Penniman and Co., Messrs. Marsh Brothers Messrs. A. Bright and Co., and Messrs. Morton and Co. Only two tons per week of manufactured goods used to be sent from Sheffield to Birmingham in 1776; now upwards of 2,000 tons are regularly forwarded. In Birmingham alone 1,300 tons of steel are annually converted into pens. The process of making this steel is shown in our sketch. Steel pens were first made in Sheffield, but the manufacture is now carried on entirely in Birmingham. The finest spring steel is used for the purpose, the rolling mills reducing it to the required thickness.
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Bibliography
”The Graphic Supplement Sheffield” and “Buildings and Industries of Sheffield.” The Graphic 10 (28 November 1874): 517, 520-24. Hathi Trust online version of a copy in the New York Public Library. Web. 2 July 2021
Last modified 3 July 2021